A wing and a prayer

Birds do collide. Thanks to all who wrote to tell of clashes between various species. Interestingly, nobody reported evidence of collisions between birds that fly in formation, such as starlings. From an evolutionary perspective it would seem to make sense for flocking birds to have collision-avoidance systems - Ed

n Yes, birds do collide in flight. Early one February morning in the early 1970s, at the start of the duck-hunting season in Victoria, Australia, I was standing waist-deep in Reedy Lake swamp near Geelong. One black swan was flying from the south and another from the north-east. They were getting closer and closer and closer... "They're going to hit each other," I thought. Then I decided: "No, birds don't crash."

Poof! They collided in a cloud of feathers. Both dropped a few metres, had a shake and then flew on as if ...

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